While driving in 60 degree weather, the vehicle’s check engine light lit on the dash and the vehicle abruptly stopped. I was able to push the vehicle safely in heavy traffic. I contacted Onstar who gave me the vehicle diagnosis. Onstar advised the following codes appeared POACA (Hybrid/ electric vehicle powertrain control module requested malfunction indicator lamp illumination), P1AEE ( the electric propulsion system is not performing as expected. Please service immediately), and P1AEF (the electric propulsion system is not performing as expected).
2017 Chevrolet Volt electrical complaints
Page 5 of 12: complaints 101 to 130 of 313, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Car stopped operation while out doing errands. Car had to be parked and restarted and made it back home. Car would not start again. Had to have it towed to dealership, BECM needs replaced for $2000. Warranty should cover, but part is backordered. Not sure when it will be fixed and with the recent freezing temperatures could have been dangerous.
Vehicle stopped running, will not restart. ODB codes show failure of the BECM. Check engine light illuminated, READY indication turned off. Vehicle does not display battery or fuel status. We were left stranded by this failure.
First, the electrical system did fail suddenly in August 2023. Luckily, I was parked and so was not injured. I did report the electrical failure to the Hendrick Chevrolet dealership in Durham. But this Chevrolet Volt also does not fill up with gas. At the pump, gas just spills out of the tank. I've seen online that many people have this same problem. At the suggestion of Hendrick Chevrolet dealership in Durham (and after paying $210 for a diagnostic), I replaced the vent valve solenoid. The car filled up with gas twice. But once again, gas starts spilling out of the tank if you try and fill it up. The car only has about 25,000 miles on it and hasn't been driven extensively so it doesn't make sense that it is malfunctioning.
While driving the car in electric mode, a chime came on and flashed 'propulsion power is reduced', then it went into engine mode and the car decelerated quickly from posted 70mph speed to less than 40mph even though I pushed the accelerator pedal and reved the engine high. While in this low power driving mode, a warning came on saying the collision detection system was disabled. The concern is the person behind me had no warning since my brake lights did not come on. He sped around me with a bit of road rage. The problem temporarily goes away when you turn the ignition off and back on. I took it to the dealer and the said it needed a new EGR Cooler 4 hours labor $1500. Chevy Dealer pulled two codes P0401 Exhaust Gas Recirculation "A" Flow Insufficient Detected P1E00 Hybrid/EV Powertrain Control Module 2 I paid them the $165 diagnosis fee and got my car back and just plan to restart when it occurs. In another instance, I was pulling out from a parking lot into a busy road in electric mode and the car lost ALL power leaving me exposed in the line of traffic. Error messages on the dash said to 'service BECM' and 'shift to park'. The car was not drivable and had to be towed. Call me if you need any more information. Thank you, [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
We were driving on the highway (my wife and younger son were passengers, and my 17 year old son was driver). He was in electric mode and then the engine propulsion reduced message came on and the check engine light came on. Car was still running, albeit slower. We stopped and filled up the gas, and got an engine unavailable message. Vehicle switched back to battery mode on its own and because there was no charge, the vehicle stopped ON THE HIGHWAY. The car lost all control and power abilities and it was very dangerous. They were able to pull over into the break down lane and they called a tow. Took the car to Mike Reichenbach Chevrolet in SC and they removed and replaced the EGR valve. However, within the last couple of weeks, my son has received the loss of propulsion message again and the car is violently shaking. This is a safety issue!
The Volts BECM has failed. There are warning lights constantly warning about Engine and low Propulsion. There are multiple symptoms. Most serious is that car has stalled while driving 3 times. If I pull over, put in park, then turn off; I can restart the engine using battery mode. It does not drive well in gas mode where gas fuels generator to charge battery for propulsion. It is now very loud and often won't allow you to drive faster than 30 MPH. The mileage diagnostics (MPG) are just over 50% of what they were before problem started. It often randomly switches from battery mode to gas. This is undesired. My problem is that the only certified tech is on other side of Island Volcano. I have no confidence that I can drive it to dealer, given the distance and power required to climb mountain. So, I am stuck with no way to fix. There are widespread reported issues, similar to mine, caused by defective BECM (Battery Energy Control Module). Problem started September 2023 and have issues every day I dare drive it.
Upon starting vehicle and shifting to drive, vehicle gives message to "shift to park" and will do nothing else. Also, while battery is fully charged, vehicle will display "unable to charge" and show no mileage left on EV mode - then at times (but not always) upon starting vehicle, mileage increases to what it expected.
Vehicle suddenly would not function. All systems became inoperable. When serviced it was determined to be a sudden failure of the BECM module which required total replacement. Part was on national back order leaving vehicle unusable for weeks.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and was shaking. The contact stated that the check engine warning light illuminated, and the battery charge indicator showed that the battery was empty when fully charged. The contact also stated that the shift to park light illuminated, and the vehicle was restarted. The contact drove the vehicle to the residence. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic and was diagnosed, but not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 77,800.
My Chevy Volt has been having spotty pop-ups stating that "Propulsion Power is Reduced" for about a month, but I was not sure how reliable the pop-up was as there were plenty of days the pop-up would not come on when starting the car. On the day of my incident in October 2023, I once again received the "Propulsion Power is Reduced" pop-up when I started my car. While driving, I stopped at a stoplight, and my battery drained. When the battery is drained, I usually don't have anything to worry about, as the Volt is an EV hybrid, and I can use the gas until I can charge my vehicle again. But the Check Engine Light came on when the battery drained this time. When the light became green, I started to drive like normal, but I suddenly got a pop-up on the screen regarding the engine no longer working, and the car rapidly began to cruise while I was in the middle of the road. I was lucky enough to have space to pull over to the side, have a tow truck to get me, and not be in the middle of a busy street or highway. I scheduled an appointment with my local Chevy dealer for an inspection and figured something could be done to fix my vehicle. I was told my car was under warranty and what parts were needed to repair it. This was in October 2023, and I have been waiting for nearly 3 months for the EGR Valve required to repair my car after being told countless times that it is in backorder. I don't understand how a part can be in backorder for so long for a vehicle that is not being produced anymore. I was told I could drive my car in electric mode, but I do not want to risk the safety of others by having my battery suddenly become drained, as the EV Range the dashboard shows is never correct and rapidly drains.
Failure of the BECM and “Shift to park” message. The vehicle will spontaneously produce a shift to park message when starting up the vehicle and turning it off. The vehicle will also show a 0 mile EV range and use the engine where a message saying “propulsion power reduced”. This will also cause the car to shut off randomly. The vehicle has not been inspected by a shop or the dealership. There is no warning or message when this happen. Check engine will appear once the vehicle has these issues.
so we inspected your vehicle and it needs a battery module, that part is on back order and we have no ETA when it will come in. That is what the dealership sent me. There are people on Chevy Volt forums saying it's the EGR valve and they've been waiting months with non-working cars. Is anyone doing their job around here?
EGR valve failed. Dealer supplied part has been on back order for more than five months.
All of a sudden while braking on a freeway offramp, the check engine light came on and a reduced propulsion warning came on my screen. The car ran weird for about a day, then it wouldn't start. I had it towed to a dealer, they diagnosed the BECM went bad, now my car has been there 2.5 weeks and there's no estimated ship date for the part, much less repair date. If they said they had enough parts for BECM failures, they're either lying to you or they're lying to me.
I was driving and then the car turned off and was unable to restart. There was no warning. The car was fine and then it wasn't. The power steering also stops working. Fortunately I was at a red light and not in the intersection yet. The check engine light wasn't on. The BECM (battery control module) failed. I had to get the car towed to the dealership for the repair. The dealership repaired the issue for free since I was still under warranty.
The BECM located in the battery compartment failed The vehicle was completely immobilized and would turn on but would not "start" leaving me stranded. Away from home. The local Chevrolet dealership confirmed the BECM was at fault The vehicle gave no clear indication of a pending BECM failure before the failure
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle suddenly lost power and decelerated to 35 MPH. During the failure, the message "Reduced Power" was displayed. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the failure remained, and the vehicle was driven to the residence at a reduced speed. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were contacted. The failure mileage was 26,000.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the Hybrid battery drained; however, the engine failed to activate as needed. Due to the failure, the vehicle stalled, and the contact coasted the vehicle to the shoulder of the highway. Due to the failure, the vehicle was initially towed to the residence then to the dealer. The vehicle was kept in dealer possession where repairs were made to the ECM (Electrical Control Module). Since the repair, the contact stated that the vehicle intermittently failed to start up while depressing the START/STOP button. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.
BECM starting to fail. Will work and then won’t work. Having issues intermittently.
The car regularly reports it is healthy and functioning correctly. It is regularly serviced and there was no advance warning of this problem. While driving the car displayed a message to the driver, something such as "reduced propulsion" and the speed of the car was reduced while the internal combustion engine intermittently raced in an uncharacteristic manner. The amber Check Engine light was displayed. A review of error codes later found a communication fault developed with the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM). As soon as it was possible, we got the car to the side of the road and shut it off. We then attempted to start the car and it displayed a warning that no key fob was present (but there was a key fob in the car). A few minutes later the car started and we were able to drive it to a service center where error codes were captured. Afterwards, the car drove as normal, and later even the amber Check Engine light was extinguished. The service center explained this could be an intermittent problem where the car will suddenly throw the error message ("low propulsion") and the car will have to be pulled to the side of the road. It will be a few weeks before the service center can do any work on the car. Since the car may start and drive, but suddenly find its speed reduced to far below the speed limit, the car can no longer be safely operated.
The battery control module failed and it was replaced at the dealership. The low propulsion mode went into effect twice before it failed and I could not drive it in my driveway. The warning lamp was on but it was on for a while before the failure due to low battery on the key fob. Chevy is aware of the problem and there is a class action lawsuit just for the battery control module issue. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The gm repair started the "vehicle power control module" - gm (24296765) is bad. Cause the car to stop, and not restart, 12v won't charge. dealership states the part on back order over 60 days, not expecting it any time soon.
This vehicle has a very dangerous malfunction. There was no power when I tried to move out of the way of an out-of-control semi truck while driving on the highway by pressing the pedal. I made every effort to maneuver because I was terrified. But because of the power outage, I could have died. This is really worrying, and I hope you can address the issue raised by Chevy so that someone else might be spared and so that future generations of electric cars are constructed to a standard that includes safety. Thank you.
The car started stating "put in park" every time I would try to put the car in drive. I would shift back and forth from park to drive over and over and I could get it to clear. One time it lost all power and had zero control. Sat on the side of the road for an hour. Shifting back and forth until it stopped and let me engage the drive. The last time it happened in a parking lot and it would just say"shift to park" I couldn't get it out of park. Had to have the car towed. Tow driver had to drag the car on the flat bed with a wench because it was stuck in park. Had the vehicle repaired. Replaced an electronic control module that had previous service bulletins on but GM would not cover the repairs. I was lucky I was not injured our involved in a wreck when I experienced these issues. I was not aware I could file a report about this until I read there was an open investigation on the same issue I had.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start up after multiple attempts. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to a local dealer where the mechanic informed the contact that the 12-volt battery needed to be replaced. After the battery was replaced, the contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the Propulsion Power reduced message was displayed. The vehicle was towed to AutoNation Chevrolet West Colonial (3707 W Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 32808) where the contact was informed that the battery had failed for a second time within two weeks and needed to be replaced. After the second 12-volt battery replacement, the vehicle started making an abnormal cranking sound while the vehicle independently surged and then lost power. The contact stated that an unknown power failure message was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact drove the vehicle to another dealer, AutoNation Chevrolet Airport (5600 Lee Vista Blvd, Orlando, FL 32812) but the vehicle was later towed back to the original local dealer. The contact was then informed that the vehicle had a defective EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the message "Propulsion System Failure" was displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle shuddered and drove rough. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated, and the “Propulsion System Failure” message was displayed before the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local mechanic. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,000.
Started acceleration on the freeway, car couldn't turn on engine, message came on dash "reduced propulsion mode" and check engine light came on, could only drive on battery, car was very sluggish, luckily had battery to exit after a few miles to get off the freeway. Had to restart car. If I had depleted the battery as I usually do that day, I would have had a dead car on the freeway with ton of traffic buzzing me and my family.
The car will occasionally lose power when driving on battery. In my experience this most often occurs after turning, but can occur seemingly randomly at other times. It's a frightening experience because you just don't know when it will occur, what you'll be doing, and how it will impact other drivers. I spent $8k trying to fix the issue and took it to two dealership issues who said the transmission needs to be replaced. We got the transmission replaced, but the issue persists. The issue happens daily. I don't know what component failed, but yes, it is available for inspection. Safety is put at risk because the car randomly loses power while driving and switches to gas mode. Yes, the problem has been seen by a local dealer. No, the vehicle or component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance rep. No, there are no indicators of the failure before or after the loss of power.
Sometimes when the vehicle powers on, it will not engage to drive in gas or electric mode when fully charged or with a full gas tank. Also sometimes while driving, it will say "gas mode not available propulsion limited". It frequently says "charging not available" as well. This is an on going, intermittent, problem.
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